Man stopped from jumping off Rockford bridge

Editor's note: This story was edited to correct the sequence of events.

ROCKFORD - Passers-by took action into their own hands today when they prevented a man from jumping off the State Street bridge.

Shortly after 2:30 p.m., a man was spotted straddling the railing on the south side of the bridge when an unknown motorist in a red mini van stopped and immediately called 911.

While the call was being made, Patrick McDonough, 37, of Belvidere, and a friend who were walking across the bridge stopped.

McDonough in one quick motion safely pulled the man back onto the bridge's raised sidewalk and started to talk to him.

"He said it had been a rough Christmas for him," McDonough said. "He said he didn't get a chance to see his kids, and he lives at the homeless shelter."

"He just kept saying he didn't care anymore, and he wanted to go over," McDonough said.

The woman in the van offered the would-be jumper a cigarette, which the man accepted.

McDonough said that woman is the one to be commended.

"She stopped first, and she called the cops right away," he said. "If she hadn't stopped, we would have just kept right on walking."

The man declined to ride in an ambulance but was driven by police to SwedishAmerican Hospital for an evaluation.

According to the Rockford Fire Department, three suicidal people have jumped from a Rockford bridge into the Rock River this year.

Because of the river's strong under currents, a leap into the river at any time of the year, especially in the winter, poses serious injury. One of the three who jumped this year, died in frigid waters.

Today's threatened jump represents the third time this year someone was talked off a ledge after threatening to jump.

In comparison, there were no jumpers in 2012, and one person was talked down. One person jumped in 2011.